C O M M E N T S    /
H I G H L I G H T S

AL2

13th out of 14

FAC

Application Rejected

AC

Not Entered

LC

1st

Aveley

1-3

SSC

Pr

Whyteleafe

0-1

AL Div 2 Cup

2nd

Ware

0-2

SCC

1st

Wandsworth

1-2

Home Ground:

West Street, Ewell

President

John (J.R.P.) Martin

Chairman

Mike (MJ)Christie

Resigned on 13/6/73 for personal reasons

Secretary

Mike (MJ)Christie

Resigned on 13/6/73 for personal reasons

143 London Road, Ewell 01-393 2055

Res Secretary

Mr J.Pepperell 92 Walsingham Gardens,
Stoneleigh

from September 1972

New Manager

Peter Kenchington

Ex Wimbledon star from late 50's early 60's.

Player/Manager
Peter Kenchington resigned in October - replaced by Mike Christie with help
from

Mike Matthews
and Arthur Evans, until 28/3/73 when Peter Spittles took over.

Kenchington
said he'd keep playing, but quit Saturday football in November to play in
Morden Sunday League.

Rhodrons
effectively merged with Epsom & Ewell F.C., and Epsom ran three teams
this year. 2 in Combination.

Only 14 teams
in Div 2 this year as Leatherhead and Hertford Town left league, so no sides
were relegated from Div 1

Jul 72 Future
player Mick Stratford leaves Banstead for Dorking. Also Charlie Beevers and
Tony Seymour.

Paddy Long
joined club this year. Previously with Dulwich, Hayes, Ilford, Barking,
Maidstone, Carshalton, Walton

Fulham and
Millwall. Was a member of the GB Olympic squad in 60's but never played. Left
Oct 72 for Worthing.

Alan Webb
signed for the club. Previously with Tooting & Mitcham.

Webb lived
for many years at Wickham Avenue in North Cheam. His house backed on to

Cheam Rec
where the Epsom & Ewell Supporters FC would play most of their home games
in the nineties.

According to
Colin Bell the players used to train over there and into Webb's garden too!

Dave Argent
joined from Rhodrons in Surrey Combination.

Mark Talmage
previously with Tooting, Sutton, Wimbledon, and Harrow

Barry Martin
previously with Horsham, Leatherhead, Molesey and Redhill

Johnny
Pritchard is younger brother of Larry Pritchard

Johnny Woods
played in friendly v Northcliffe but did not return.

1/8/72 Chris
Kelly moved to Leatherhead from Sutton. Scored on debut in friendly v Epsom!

Aug 72 future
player Alan Ives joins Tooting & Mitcham from Redhill. Future Manager
Adrian Hill is still there.

Aug 72 Dave
Burke and Peter Gaydon follow Manager Jimmy rose from Croydon to Dulwich

Aug 72 future
player Keith Eshelby is still at Corinthian Casuals. Former player Ken
Ireland is also there.

Aug 72 Gerry
O'Rourke & Tommy McCready are still at Wimbledon

Aug 72
Wimbledon sign their reserve manager Pat O'Connell on Southern League forms
in case of emergencies.

Our future
manager was a former Fulham and Palace player.

Aug 72 Pat O'Connell replaced Ted Murphy as Wimbledon
Manager - Murphy went to Dulwich Hamlet as Manager of their first team.

Aug 72 former
and future player Ted Yorke is at Hampton - formerly Tooting & Mitcham
& Redhill

15/8/72 15
year old caused £100 worth of damage to club. Sentenced to custody.

15/8/72 key
lost to dressing room for 45 minutes!

Sept 72
future keeper Peter Burdett is Reserve keeper at Dulwich Hamlet but gets some
first team opportunities this year

Sept 72
former Chelsea plauyer Joe Fascione joins Wimbledon

9/9/72  R.Kidd is in the Harrow Borough line up v
Epsom. Was this future player Ricky Kidd?

13/9/72 was
the original date for the Wandsworth (H) Southern Combination Cup but this
was put back to Sunday 01/10/72.

17/9/72 300+
attended match v Ex-Brentford XI. Long (3), and Kidwell scored in a 4-3 win
(ht 2-1)

1/10/72
K.O.11.15 on a Sunday

1/10/72
Epsom lose 1-2 at home to Wandsworth in the Southern Combination Cup. The
Epsom Advertiser lists a line up

with an
unknown player "Taylor" in it. However, Dave Wilson, who was
putting full stats together at the time makes no

reference to
anyone called Taylor in the seasonal stats. He says Dave Jackson plays and I
would trust Dave ahead of a

local
reporter's line up.

Oct 72 Ray
Bloys takes over as Palace Chairman replacing Arthur Wait who then left the
club two weeks later blaming

"power,
politics and backbiting"

Oct 72 'A'
team advertise for players. Almost anyone will get a game, it was stated.

Transfers up
to November: D.Chapman from Epsom to Cambridge, S.Whittamore from Chessington
B.L. to Epsom

Steve
Whittamore moved to Manchester for business reasons but was back by the end
of the season.

According to
Mike Matthews, Steve Whittamore became a private detective and was implicated
in the newspaper scandals of

2002/03 and he was found guilty in 2004 of providing much
government information to journalists, receiving a conditional discharge.

He was also
referred to as a "middleman" when his name was discussed at the
more recent Leveson enquiry into newspaper

hacking. He
was once asked to do an address and vehicle registration check for Hugh Grant
and Liz Hurley!

He was also
asked to supply information about Charlotte Church to journalists.

His house at 3 Orchard Grove, New Milton, Hampshire was
raided in March 2003. The Guadian reported as follows on 28/03/2012:

It was
obvious by the volume and content of the documentation seized [that]
Whittamore worked on a full-time basis for

numerous
newspaper groups and journalists obtaining a variety of information for them,
said Alexander Owens, the lead

investigator
in the Motorman inquiry and who raided Whittamore's home office in March
2003, in his witness statement to the

Leveson
inquiry into press standards.

Whittamore
was arrested and subsequently pleaded guilty to obtaining and disclosing
private information under the Data

Protection
Act. Unlawfully obtaining or accessing personal data is a criminal offence
under section 55 of the 1998 act. It is

punishable by
a fine of up to £5,000 in a magistrates court or an unlimited fine in a crown
court.

Breaches
under section 55 are protected by a small number of exemptions, including the
prevention and detection of crime

and –
crucially, in the case of journalists – if the offence can be justified in
the public interest. Whittamore was given a

two-year
conditional discharge and later described his former trade as playing
"Oliver to the press's Fagin".

He was 58 at
the time of the raid, leading to a date of birth of 1945 or 1944.

According to
a report by Lord Ashcroft:

Whittamore and wife Georgina were the targets of an
operation known as Motorman. Bonnie and Clyde they weren't, but deep in

the heart of
suburbia the Whittamores were discovered to be holding an alladdin's cave of
information, most of it belonging to

other people. Trading as JJ Information Limited they had a
price list including vehicle checks £70, ex-directory numbers £70 (they

cost him £40)
and customers were charged £150.

Apparently
305 unnamed journalists (at the time) commissioned 13,343 sdeparate lines of
enquiry from Whittamore, split into

three
categories.

Known
breaches of the Data Protection Act: 5,025

Probable
breaches of the Data Protection Act: 6,330.

Questionable
breaches of the Data Protection Act: 1,988.

The
journalists worked for 21 different newspapers and 11 magazines!

26/10/72
Crystal Palace vice-Chairman Ray Bloye becomes Chairman, replacing Arthur
Wait. He is 58 and his company

Matthews
Holdings paid £37,000 for a 51% interest in the club two months previously
says South London Press.

Oct 72 Peter
Gaydon and Dave Burke both leave Dulwich for Carshalton Athletic. Both had
been rested / dropped recently.

18/11/72 Dave
Gigg HT as Ware defeat Epsom 5-2 at Buryfield.

25/11/72
Colin Bell smashed home a classic o.g. into roof of net after ball had come
back off of the bar!

29/11/72 Five
a side at Epsom Baths. Entrance 20p. Epsom enter a team.

Dec 72 Dave
Rainham joins from Molesey.

13/12/72
Peter Burdett selected for London Intermediate League v London Business
Houses at Finchley

30/12/72
Originally this match was home to Hemel Hempstead but instead it was switched
to Hampton (H).

30/12/72
Johnny Eales and Ted Yorke play for Hampton v Epsom.

30/12/72
Carshalton, Sutton, and Banstead all abandoned mid match due to fog!

Jan 73 Peter
Norris takes over at Redhill with Mike Matthews from Epsom as Reserve
Manager.

Dave Jackson
leaves for Kingstonian

Jan 73 Epsom
invited to join Metropolitan League but they declined.

Jan 73
Future player Mick Stratford joins Dorking from Banstead, as do former
players Tony Seymour and Charlie Beevers.

6/1/73 Coach
run to Eastbourne with players all contributing to cost. Peter Spittles drove
it there!

First coach
run by club for three years. Was late due to traffic problems, and Epsom were
expecting to be fined.

6/1/73 Dave
Rainham was injured early and Dave Argent came on for him, but then Graham
Hemphrey broke his nose and

also needed
stiches at hospital for a cut eye. 10 men. Lost 2-0. A bad day all round!

13/1/73
McCormack mispen as Epsom lose 3-0 at home to Ruislip Manor.

13/1/73
Also, my records show that Tony Davies made his debut this day, but Dave
Wilson's records show a Barry Davies,

while there
is a Tony Davies who is an unused sub on 27th January. I originally had Tony
Davies down and am happy to

change to
Barry Davies, but for some reason Dave put these two names in pencil, while
all others were in pen. Was he

unsure and
are my records better? I will stay with Tony for now but need to check local
papers again..

14/1/73 Tommy
Tuite scores 4 goals for S.T.Merton despite a broken nose.

Jan 73 Dave
Fillery is Manager of Tooting & Mitcham United's Colts team but it will
be folded from 1973/74

3/2/73
Wingate v Epsom first match at Wingate's new ground at Brickfield Lane,
Arkley. Epsom win 2-1. They had been

at Summers
Lane, Finchley since losing their ground at Hall Lane in May 1972.

26/2/73
Public meeting called to decide whether Epsom should disband. A Monday
evening.

Papers
believe that this will be a formality but the winding up still has to be made
official.

John Martin
only sent a representative, but Ray Bloye cleared the £250 debt. Mike
Christie had got it down from £3k.

Christie was
even washing the kit at this point! Debts reduced through season by removing
pa system.

Also, new
programmes printed instead of duplicates. Also fruit machine reinstalled at
club.

Ray Bloye
also agreed payment of £500-£600 so his employees could use pitch and social
facilities on a Sunday.

Ray Bloye was
a 58 year old millionaire who ran a meat group, Matthews Holdings whose HQ
was in Church Street,

Epsom. Set
out by buying a butchers shop in 1945 in Mulgrave Road for £75.

Former long
serving player Colin Bell advised me in 2011 that Ray Bloye may have got
involved because an Epsom

player Alan
Howe knew him quite well.

Feb 73
Mention of a local lad who may sign, who has been freely scoring in junior
soccer. Was this Tuite??

Almost
certainly! Both he and Willie Bennett play three games for Wimbledon in their
Southern League team this season.

Mike Christie
Feb 73 "It does seem a pity that an area the size of Epsom & Ewell
cannot afford to support

a local
amateur football club"

Ray Bloye Mar
73 "I shall do everything I can to help and have called in two of my
employees Mr Grant and

Mr Peacock to
assist. I shall definitely back the club, and I will not let the club close
down"

Holding
Company proposed in March 73 to be opened to safeguard the lease with a
£1,000 share issue.

Micky Jones
signs for Redhill.

24/2/73 Tony
Aspinosa makes debut as a sub. Originally listed as Aspinoza but Dave Wilson
says s not Z so I will amend.

Picture in
March 1973 shows Mick Christie 2nd from left, Wilf Smith 3rd and Dave Wilson
5th (furthest right).

March 73
Adrian Young reported to be returning to England from Australia. Alan
Thompson still playing in Sydney.

March 73
Future player Del Brown (26) appointed manager of Redhill ahead of others
including Peter Norris.

Mar 73 Gerry
O'Rourke is to be released by Wimbledon. He is 34 and would then go on to
Chelmsford before

joining
Dulwich Hamlet in Oct 73 still at the age of 34

Mar 73 future
player Alan Ives trains with England Amateur International team

Mick Matthews
is his assistant manager who was at Epsom last year says local papers.

Papers say
that Del was a former Eastbourne United captain and also played for England
Schoolboys.

31/3/73 Epsom
25 minutes late to Hemel Hempstead. 7/4/73 Hemel 25 mins late in return leg!

We defeated
Hemel 2-1 on aggregate and faced a trip to the winners of Ware or Wingate.

March 73
Epsom & Ewell FC (Holdings) Ltd has Ian Grant, Graham Peacock joining
Mike Christie and Dave Wilson

as Directors.

Apr 73 future
player Gerry O'Rourke (34) released by Wimbledon - moves to Chelmsford on a
free transfer

Apr 73 future
Manager Adrian Hill will never play for T&M again - domestic troubles -
rumoured to be joining Dulwich

Apr 73 former Physio Alf Paine to leave T&M at the end
of season - he is concentrating on his private practice after 8 years there

Apr 73 Adrian
Hill will play no more this season at Tooting & Mitcham - personal
reasons

1/4/73
Amateur Managers XI v Press XI at West Street 11am.

21/4/73
Several unnamed ringers played at Ware. Names not listed, so the team line up
is as per local papers.

We still lost
2-0 and the winners would have been home to Hampton, Harrow or Edgware.

May 73 Alan
Ives selected for Surrey v Berks & Bucks at Slough on 09/05/73

4/5/73 Surrey
Junior Cup Final at Epsom between Clarion and Dukes Head - 6.30pm

Boys finals
also held there

Div 2 Cup
revised a bit this year

May 73 Peter
Spittles says he will carry on as manager next year. It doesn't work out like
that though.

Reserves:

Surrey Combination League

Div 1

There was a Premier Division too.

Manager:
Arthur Evans with help from Peter Spittles until he moved up in March to take
on the first team.

Position

13th out of 14

LC

2nd

Elmwood O.B.

2-5

when?

Inv.Shield

3rd

Green Lane Wands

2-4

SIC

4q

Welbeck United

1-2

Aug 72 reference in programme to two recent friendly wins
in midweek before their first game of the season v Meadvale Casuals.

26/8/72
Meadvale still defeated us 2-1 at West Street.

2/9/72 Due
to play Raynese Park (H) but we play at home to Decca instead and win 3-0
with two goals from Eric Norman.

6/9/72 Lost
2-0 at home to Green Lane United. 6.30 k.o. No more midweek fixtures after
this date.

Transfers up
to November: D.Chapman from Epsom to Cambridge, S.Whittamore from Chessington
B.L. to Epsom

and M.Marlow
from Chessington BL to Epsom. Any connection to Roy?

21/10/72 my
records showed a 1-0 away loss to Malden Vale, but the programme referred to
a 4-0 loss. This actually tallies

up so I will
amend.

11/11/72
Epsom won 3-1 at Chessington RBL. My records advised this was an Invitation
Shield match but they weren't in our

group and
South London Press confirms this was a first round League Cup tie.

The next
round was a 2-5 loss to Elmwood OB on either 2/12/72 or 30/12/72.

17/2/73
Malden Vale (H)(L) p-p

3/3/73 No
game?

17/3/73
provisional friendly (H) v Surbiton Town. Not played.

7/4/73
Worcester Park (A)(L) p-p

11/4/ and
12/4 two Combination games for Reserves.

14/4/73 No
game?

21/4/73
Elmwood O.B. (A)(L) p-p

'A' Team

Surrey Combination League

Div 2

Position

9th out of 9

LC

2nd

Clarion Res

3-4

Inv.Shield

SF

Clarion Res

1-4

Invitation
Shield was on a Group Basis in this division. Group of 4 and two went through
to semis.

18/11/72 No
game?

2/12/72 No
game

16/12/72
Worcester Park Res (A)(L) p-p

13/1/73
Roehampton Utd Res (A)(L) p-p

20/1/73 no
game?

17/3/73 A
Team lost 4-1 at Clarion in the Invitation Shield SF. Game played at Norbiton
Sports Ground. K.O. 2.30.

24/3/73 no
game?

31/3/73 no
game?

14/4/73 no
game?

28/4/73 two 1
hour double header matches played at Wimbledon v Wimbledon Democrats Res.
Away game first.

Friendlies

Score

Prog?

27/07/1972

Northcliffe

A

2-2

@ Worcester Park.

Kenchington, Pritchard

01/08/1972

Leatherhead

A

0-6

12/08/1972

Dorking

A

3-4

Langton, Kenchington, Long

15/08/1972

Carshalton Athletic

H

0-4

Y

17/09/1972

Ex-Brentford XI

H

4-3

Y